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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26789572">Why I Hate You</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/mitchello/pseuds/mitchello'>mitchello</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Dick Grayson is a girl, Fatherhood, Friendship, Gen, Nicknames, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Relationships, Roy Harper is a good Dad, inconvenient nicknames, the word "daddy" but it's not kinky</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 06:14:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,610</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26789572</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/mitchello/pseuds/mitchello</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>How one nickname ends up causing Roy and Dick to hate each other. </p><p>Or numerous times Dick uses her nickname for Roy and one time it comes back to bite her in the ass.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dick Grayson &amp; Alfred Pennyworth, Dick Grayson &amp; Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson &amp; Jason Todd, Dick Grayson &amp; Lian Harper, Dick Grayson &amp; Roy Harper, Lian Harper &amp; Roy Harper</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>204</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Why I Hate You</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Roy hates Dick.</p><p>Dick is the type of friend who has so many obligations she can never devote too much time to a single person. She’s constantly everywhere and she’s constantly with everyone. She calls and texts and visits when she can, but never for too long because she always has something she needs to do. She’s busy. Roy understands she’s busy. He understands that even if he hasn’t seen Dick in months, the next time they run into each other they’ll click like they were never apart.</p><p>Wait, that doesn't quite explain why Roy hates Dick. That part of Dick’s personality actually contributes to why Roy <em>loves</em> Dick. He loves her because when she comes to visit, she cuddles with Lian, she turns her phone off, and she gives them her full attention. He loves her because when she’s around he feels listened to and cared for. He loves her because of how widely she smiles at him and how her hand always finds its way around his.</p><p>But Roy also hates Dick.</p><p>There is probably a list of things Dick has done which hurt him pushed somewhere in the back of his mind, but, really, Roy only has one reason why he hates Dick.</p><p>It started innocently enough when a bundle of a little girl found its way into Roy’s arm and he had turned such a panicked look to Dick to which she’d responded with a “You got this, Dad” and a squeeze to his shoulder. Which was fine. He hadn’t thought much of it. But Dick, being who she is, decided to call him that again.</p><p>The second time was when he, Donna, and Dick were at a bar catching up. Dick had noticed him eyeing a beautiful brunette woman sipping on some horribly fruity drink and Dick decided being a wingwoman meant slapping Roy’s ass and telling him “go get her, Daddy.” Roy had choked on his water then proceeded to give Dick a serious what-the-fuck look. Dick had responded by shrugging and telling Roy he was a daddy now. Which was correct. Roy was a dad. He had a child. Roy had just wrinkled his nose at Dick and moved on.</p><p>Looking back, he probably should have told her not to, but he hadn’t really minded it. The Titans gave each other too many horrible nicknames for it to phase him. The problem was that somehow the nickname stuck. The Titans were gracious enough to only use it in the context of him and Lian. Wally would place Lian back into his arms with a “here you go, Dad.” Donna would lay on the floor next to Lian during tummy time and chat to her about how “Daddy’s been so nice today.” But Dick, fucking Dick, would call him dad or daddy in practically any situation, which, after a while, got embarrassing. Like during an alien invasion when Dick had yelled “Daddy, duck” and he’d gone down without hesitation, narrowly missing getting hit by an alien body Clark had punched a little too hard, only to straighten a moment later and find Bruce in the cowl looking at him with thinned lips.</p><p>So, Roy hates Dick. Roy hates Dick because of her insistence on using terrible nicknames.</p><p> </p><p>Roy and Dick are grocery shopping at Ralphs. Roy knows he looks like an absolute dumpster fire. The bags under his eyes are extra puffy, his nose is red, and he’s in his comfy clothes which are dotted with unremovable stains and small holes. Dick, on the other hand, has her hair down and is wearing hideous plaid pants with a black crop top. She looks good, though, Really good. It’s truly unfair how Dick looks gorgeous in literally anything.</p><p>Roy halts in the middle of the freezer isle they’re in as he feels a tickle in his nose. He sneezes. <em>Here we go</em>.</p><p>“I told you you’re sick.” She doesn’t even look over to him. She just opens the freezer door and pulls out a tub of chocolate ice cream.</p><p>“I’m not sick,” he denies despite the itch in his throat and his stuffed-up nose. He is totally sick but he doesn’t want to give Dick the satisfaction of being right.</p><p>“Lian totally got you sick.”</p><p>“Just grab the broccoli, Dickhead.”</p><p>She does and they move down to the end of the isle where Dick, for some reason, decides to turn the opposite direction of the cash registers. Roy doesn’t contest her decision. She leads them to the isle of canned goods and Roy starts to feel betrayed. She stops exactly where he doesn’t want her: right in front of the cans of chicken noodle soup.</p><p>“No,” he states.</p><p>“C’mon—” she takes one of the cans and gives it a small shake—“it’s good for the soul and all that jazz.”</p><p>“I’m not eating that canned shit.”</p><p>“Wow. And I’m the spoiled rich kid.”</p><p>“<em>Dick</em>,” he whines.</p><p>“It’s scientifically helpful for sick people” Dick turns expression into a pleading one.</p><p>“No.”</p><p>She puts it in their cart. “Sorry, Daddio, you’re gonna eat the soup.”</p><p>Farther down the isle a teenage girl shoots Roy a criticizing look when she realizes he is not, in fact, old enough to be Dick’s ‘Daddio’. Roy feels his ears get hot when the girl doubles back to look at Dick then shoots him a thumbs up.</p><p>“Whatever, Dickface,” he mumbles. “Let’s just go.”</p><p> </p><p>Dick and Roy finish settling Lian into her car seat and shut the door of the small sedan with rust around the wheel-wells. Dick loops her arms around Roy’s waist and smiles one of her blinding smiles where her eyes scrunch up and her cheeks get round. He feels some of the stress he’d been carrying since the daycare’s call that afternoon start to dissipate. Lian is safe. Dick is here, free, and willing to babysit until the daycare can re-open.</p><p>Freaking villains and property destruction.</p><p>“Hey, you handled everything great today, Daddy,” Dick says then drops her arms from around him.</p><p>The reassurance somehow makes him want to cry. He’d been in such a panic when he’d seen the daycare building get torn through. God, trying to recall his response was like looking into a memory coated with fog.</p><p>He can’t think of anything to say back so he opens the passenger side door and as he closes it behind Dick he makes eye contact with a woman around her mid-thirties. She gives him a soft, approving smile that lets him know she’d been paying attention to him and the girls. His cheeks get hot with the knowledge that this woman mistakenly believes that she’s admiring a typical American nuclear family and not a single father, his child that had to be stolen from her assassin mother, and a close friend.</p><p> </p><p>Roy is sitting on a stool in the kitchen of the Manor eating a plate of what he assumes is leftover Christmas dinner. Lian is sleeping in Dick’s arms. Roy mindlessly chats with Alfred as the older man rolls out a last-minute batch of sugar cookies for the Wayne’s second Christmas (the Kanes are coming over tomorrow). When Roy empties his plate, he starts washing his dishes and the measuring utensils Alfred doesn’t need anymore.</p><p>“Dad,” Dick says in a quiet tone from behind him.</p><p>“Yeah,” he responds without much thought until he feels Alfred’s stare immediately boring into him. He removes his hands from the soapy water and warily meets Alfred’s eyes. Shit.</p><p>He turns, searching for Dick. Across the room, she's grasping onto a picture frame that’s still half in Bruce’s hand as she expertly balances Lian in one arm. Bruce sends him an indiscernible look then turns his attention back to Dick.</p><p>“Merry Christmas, Dickie.” He lets go of the frame and gives her a shoulder squeeze.</p><p>“Thanks, Bruce,” she chokes out.</p><p>“I was told it was taken in the Ukraine. Tourists stumbled across the circus at one of the stops,” Bruce briefly explains. He sends a light glare Roy’s way then retreats out of the room.</p><p>Roy dries his hands and makes his way so he’s standing behind Dick’s frozen form. From over her shoulder he sees what caused the ‘Dad’. John Grayson in all his gymnast glory, young, maybe as old as Dick is now, swinging from a trapeze set up under the open sky.</p><p>A sparkle of light catching on Dick’s cheek draws his attention from the photo. He wraps his arms around her stomach and rests his chin on the shoulder his daughter isn’t drooling on. He hears Dick try to inhale a deep breath but it turns into her choking back a sob. He presses closer against her.</p><p>“You good?”</p><p>“Yeah. I’m good,” she replies wetly and leans back further into him.</p><p>Vaguely, Roy remembers Alfred is still watching them.</p><p> </p><p>Roy is meeting Dick at a coffee shop. He notices there are teenagers everywhere as soon as he enters. He readjusts the shitload of items in his arms and steals a look at his watch. 30 minutes until he needs to pick up Lian. He meanders his way through the shop until he finds Dick in a booth at the back corner.</p><p>“Here you go.” He drops the armful case files onto her table. “And here’s an extra pick-me-up,” he says as he sets a bag of unshelled peanuts on top of the files.</p><p>Dick’s eyes go wide at the peanuts and she turns to him absolutely oozing gratitude. “You’re my hero, Dad.”</p><p>Roy feels the eyes of every teenager in the vicinity turn towards them. He hears one of them snort.</p><p>“I gotta run.” To pick up Lian and to get away from the amused or disgusted looks being sent his way.</p><p>“Drive safe.”</p><p>Roy walks as quickly as he can out of the shop but not before a random teenage boy calls out “bye, dad” to him.</p><p> </p><p>Roy is trembling. He can’t get his body or his mind to calm down. The last week was a series of events where anything-that-can-go-wrong-will-go-wrong was in full effect.</p><p>He’s standing in front of Lian’s crib in the living room. He can’t take his eyes off her. He keeps getting the feeling that if he looks away, she’ll vanish. His mind keeps going over every one of his decisions, debating if he’d done the right thing. He curls his fingers around the rails of the crib in a vain attempt to get his hands to stop shaking. It just makes his arms tremble more. He focuses on keeping his breath in a rhythmic pattern.</p><p>At some point, he hears the front door unlock and Dick’s footsteps making their way towards him. She doesn’t approach him at first. He can’t pull his thoughts to even start to wonder what she’s doing. Finally, she finds her way beside him. She wraps one hand around his bicep and stands there with him. They’re like that for a while, silent, until it gets hard for him to keep his breathing pattern.</p><p>“I got you, Daddy.” Then he’s being led away from the crib to the couch and as soon as Dick sits down he falls next to her. He doesn’t give her any space. He wraps one arm around her back, the other across her legs, and settles his head on her lap. “I got you,” Dick repeats. And just like that, the emotions he’d been holding reach the breaking point. Tears start streaming down his face and his body shakes in a silent sob. Dick brings starts running a hand through his hair. He isn’t sure how long he’s like that, dripping tears onto what he realizes are <em>his</em> pants, but eventually he stops and he can breathe.</p><p>He’s exhausted.</p><p>“You good?”</p><p>“Yeah. I’m good,” he responds then he grabs Dick and drags her down into a laying position in front of him. Finally, he lets the sleep take him.</p><p> </p><p>Roy gets a call for help from Nightwing. He tracks her down to a deteriorating warehouse at the docks. He takes a moment to scope it out before entering. He goes in through the top. The right decision because he ends up on the beams above a tied up Dick with a conveniently ripped costume that managed to be PG-13. An red faced, blonde man with meaty hands kneels in front of Dick, using his thumb and forefinger to force Dick to make eye contact. Not that the man can tell if Dick is looking at him through the lenses of her domino.  </p><p>“You’re going to tell me what I want to know!” The man’s voice is a dangerously angry, displeased tone.</p><p>A small smirk appears on Dick’s face. “Daddy, now would be a good time to drop in.”</p><p>And ‘drop’ he did.</p><p> </p><p>Dick hates Roy.</p><p>Roy is the type of friend who is unfailingly loyal. He’s the type of friend who always has your back. He’s the one that drags people out of strict schedules and forces them to have fun. He’s also smart and unafraid to show off. And no matter how long Dick goes without seeing Roy, she knows when they run into each other again, they’ll click right back to where they left off.</p><p>None of these are the reasons Dick hates Roy. In fact, they only contribute to why Dick <em>loves</em> Roy. She loves Roy because he is willing to call her on her bullshit, he sends her memes when they remind him of her, and he gives her and Lian his full attention when they’re all together. She loves him because of how his eyes crinkle when he refuses to laugh at one of her puns. She loves him because when she’s with him she feels like she can relax and speak what’s on her mind. She loves him because of the way his leg always presses into hers when they sit next to each other and how he’ll kiss her temple.</p><p>But Dick also hates Roy.</p><p>She probably has a list of how Roy has hurt her stored somewhere in her mind, but, really, Dick hates Roy for one reason.</p><p>When Roy first had Lian, Dick started calling Roy variations of ‘dad’. She liked the way the reminder of fatherhood would make Roy stand a little taller. And how sometimes it would make him flush. He never told her he didn’t like the nickname and she never used it in relation to kink or sex.</p><p>Last week, she’d been visiting the Harper household and Roy had changed his name in her phone to ‘Daddy ❤😍❤’. She hadn’t bothered to change it back.</p><p>Now, she's starting to regret her decisions.</p><p>She’s sitting on the couch next to Jason at the Manor with her phone ringing on the couch cushion between them and the contact covering the screen noticeably reads ‘Daddy ❤😍❤’.</p><p>Dick snatches up the phone too late. Jason has already read the contact name. She swipes to answer (declining would be far more suspicious).</p><p>“Hey what’s up?”</p><p>“Lian’s birthday party next Friday, you’re coming, right?”</p><p>“Of course, I’m coming.”</p><p>“Can you get here early to set up? Three o’clock?”</p><p>“Friday at three. I’ll be there.”</p><p>“Awesome. Thanks Dick.”</p><p>Then there is nothing but dial tone.</p><p>She lowers the phone looking straight ahead. She can feel Jason staring at her. He opens his mouth to say something and Dick cuts him off with a sharp hand motion.</p><p>“Not a word,” she demands then stands up and walks out of the room.</p><p>So, Dick hates Roy. She hates Roy because he changed his name in her phone and there’s no way she’ll ever be able to explain it to Jason.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I know, I know. Instead of updating any of my other stories I wrote this. Good news, my GRE is over and done with so yay for that. Now it's just applications and the regular college stuff.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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